The Wise and the Wonderful

Upon seeing the four professors, the five Gryffindors burst into simultaneous chatter.

"There you lot are!" Rose exclaimed. "I was starting to wonder if you were ever going to show up!"

"Professors!" began Hermione. "Professor Quirrell is–"

"Harry and Ron ran off–" Sally-Anne began.

"And we had to get through all the challenges–" Hermione continued.

"I was brilliant at chess–" Ron was saying.

"I caught the key, and–" Harry added.

"Quiet!" Minerva shouted, holding up her hand.

Immediately after the Deputy Headmistress shouted, all five Gryffindors ceased their talking.

"The current circumstances are irrelevant," she scolded. "I don't care if He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named came down here himself, none of you should be here. I warned all of you to stay out of this, and not one of you listened to me! As such, I am docking you each 50 house points."

"But Professor–" Sally-Anne began, but was silenced by Professor McGonagall holding up her hand.

"I asked for quiet, Ms. Perks," the Transfigurations professor said. "There is absolutely no reason for you five to be down here. It is extremely dangerous, and all of you could have died."

"Harry and Ron ran in here, and we were trying to stop them from getting themselves killed!" Rose said, ignoring Professor McGonagall's hand.

"I have told you this repeatedly, Ms. Peta-Lorrum," Minerva scolded the crimson-haired girl, "do not take matters such as this into your own hands. This is a matter for the staff to deal with, not you. Twenty-five more points!"

"She doesn't care about house points," Severus muttered in her ear.

"I did," Rose said, getting agitated. "I sent Dripty to warn you, and as I've said just about every time you've told me that, there wasn't time! We had no idea what was down here besides Fluffy, and if we sat around doing nothing, then, as you said, Harry and Ronald could've been killed!"

Minerva was positively fuming. She had had quite enough of this girl. If the first-year didn't stop talking soon, then Minerva had it in her mind to expel the girl and be done with it. As acting Headmistress, she was well within her rights to do so. She had already deducted 275 points from Gryffindor, which knocked them into dead last, but if it got her message through to these kids, then it was worth it. Sure, she'd have to suffer through another defeat by Slytherin, but she'd get over it. There was always next year.

"Ms. Peta-Lorrum," Septima said calmly, hoping to stop Minerva from expelling, or worse, killing, the crimson-haired girl. "If you are so confident that you were able to handle this by yourself, then why did you bring along Mses. Granger and Perks?"

"Because I was only confident in my ability to handle anything lethal," Rose replied, relaxing now that she didn't feel threatened. "Had I not brought along Hermione and Sally-Anne, we would still be trapped in the dimensional prison, and we figured out that it was being powered by us, thank you very much."

Septima looked around at the five children and noticed that none of them looked well. Hermione looked like she hadn't slept in days, Perks and Weasley were both visibly sweating, and Potter was panting. Peta-Lorrum didn't look much different than normal, but she always looked pale and sickly, like she hadn't eaten or slept in months. Also, now that Septima got a good look at the girl, her chest wasn't rising and falling like everyone else's. Was she not breathing?

"Quirrell is beyond those flames, possibly with the Philosopher's Stone. We had to go stop him."

"We have no proof of this," Minerva said. "All we know is that someone triggered an alarm rune. For all we know, it could've been one of your tricks, Ms. Peta-Lorrum."

Rose looked from Professor McGonagall, who was glaring daggers at her, to Professor Snape, who was looking rather Snapey, to Professor Babbling, who was watching her analytically, to Professor Vector, who looked guilty and worried at the same time.

<Professors McGonagall and Babbling believe you to be behind this, Professor Vector is concerned about Hermione, and Professor Snape has his Occlumency shields up.>

<Thanks, Ref.>

Rose sighed. "So am I to assume that the four of you believe me to be behind all of this?"

Hermione glanced over at Rose, then back to Professor Vector. They couldn't think that. After all, Rose had been keeping them alive! She had saved Ron's life in the last room! Besides, she could've just dim doored around the chess set, couldn't she? It had occurred to Hermione that it would've been easy for her pale friend to bypass the chess match entirely, but had stayed to protect them. At least, that's what Hermione hoped was the reason for Rose staying with them.

"Are you?" asked Professor Babbling.

"First: Don't ever ask that question; the answer will always be 'no', regardless of to whom you're asking it. Second: I can bypass those flames at anytime I choose, so if I want the Philosopher's Stone, then why haven't I just gone for it yet?"

"That would be a valid argument, if you knew what was behind those flames," Professor Snape replied. "You said yourself you aren't confident that you can handle the challenges by yourself."

"All of this is unimportant right now," Professor Vector spoke up. "Right now, we need to get these five out of here."

"Agreed," Minerva said, still glaring at Peta-Lorrum.

The crimson-haired girl was awfully suspicious at the moment. She turned up, out of the blue, and just so happened to be of the correct age for attending school at Hogwarts. She learned way too quickly for her age, and knew far more than she should. The girl was able to defeat both a troll and a dragon without a second thought, and had proven capable of using magic that some of the staff thought impossible. Peta-Lorrum had taken an interest in the Philosopher's Stone for a few months, and had now gone down to actually try to obtain it. Every sign indicated that she was working for someone.

Still, Minerva knew Septima was right. Minerva didn't know how Septima's challenge worked, but she knew it drained its occupants. Four of the five first-years required Poppy's immediate attention, and the fifth would be lucky if she made it to Poppy in one piece.

"Severus," Minerva said, turning to the Potions Professor, "as you know the actual solution to this, would you please go forward and verify that the Stone is safe?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Minerva saw Peta-Lorrum smirk.

"The rest of you can come with me," Minerva said, turning to leave. She then noticed the flames in front of the door.

Severus!

"Which potion allows us to walk back the way we came?"

Severus picked up the bottle second from their left. "This one."

The bottle was passed around, although Peta-Lorrum turned it down, insisting that she would be fine. Considering that Minerva had lost all patience for the girl, she was not about to argue with her. If Peta-Lorrum wanted to set herself on fire, then she was more than welcome to do so.

To Minerva's dismay, Peta-Lorrum did not die when she passed through the flames. Instead, she came out on the other side perfectly fine.

As a side note, Minerva swore never to tell anyone that she had just wished that one of her own students were set on fire, despite how understanding her colleagues might be about it.

Keep it together a little longer, Minerva, she told herself. There are grounds to expel her, then we don't need to deal with her any longer.

After everyone else left the room, Severus took the potion to his right of the one in the middle and drank from it. Then, he proceeded to pass through the other threshold. He knew it had been a good idea to leave a fake riddle there. It certainly held up Peta-Lorrum's group long enough.

The Potions Master walked down the spiral staircase that led into the chamber with the Mirror of Erised. Severus never understood the point of having other defences around the Stone. Why not just throw up some wards around it, hide it in the Mirror like Albus was already doing, then seal off the entrance way? That way, only those who knew about it would be able to find it, but it was protected even if it was found. Instead, it became really obvious as to where it was being hidden because there was a giant dog guarding it. It was as if Albus wanted people to find it!

Or better yet, build an indestructible box around it, wrap it in chains, and throw it into the ocean. Maybe even have the person who threw it into the ocean wipe their memory of it, so no one would remember where it was.

No, that wouldn't work. Flamel had asked Albus to protect it, but still needed the elixir of life to sustain himself. That's why there had to be a trick to all the challenges about which Albus knew. That way, Albus could bring Flamel down here to create more of the elixir. It still seemed like the Mirror idea was better than all of this. Or, at the very least, put actual enchantments on the door so a first-year couldn't just unlock it with alohomora. Or better yet: Hide the door! You wouldn't even need to tell people that it was out of bounds; the new students wouldn't realize that anything was missing, and the older students would assume the castle just changed again and accept it.

Severus reached the chamber and, to his utter amazement, found the last person he would was expecting to see: Quirinius.

Peta-Lorrum was right?! How is that possible?!

"Severus," Quirinius said, turning to face him. "I must say, I was expecting to see Peta-Lorrum here, what with her constant threats against my life."

Severus took note that Quirinius was no longer stuttering, implying that it had been an act, probably to draw suspicion away from the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor.

"She was here," Severus said. "And she knew you were here. She has all along."

Severus was a little surprised that he was all but gloating about that maniac, but she had been right. Unless, of course, she was paying off Quirinius to be part of her plan. That was always a possibility.

"As if that matters," Quirinius said. "The girl is only a nuisance; nothing more!"

"Oh really?" Severus said. "So killing your troll before you could make it here on Hallowe'en was only a nuisance? Stopping you from killing Potter during that match was only a nuisance?"

"Setbacks," Quirinius said dismissively. "Nothing more!"

Severus smirked. "Your plans were delayed by a prepubescent girl?"

"This is a waste of time," a voice hissed.

Last night I found a humanoid in a black cloak drinking the blood of a dead unicorn.

The annoying girl's words popped into Severus's head, and everything began to slide into place. According to Peta-Lorrum, Quirrell had consumed the blood of a unicorn, which meant that he had a half-life. In other words, he was sharing his body with someone else. Someone who wanted the Philosopher's Stone. Someone whose voice Severus recognized. It had been ten years since he'd heard it, but there was no mistaking who was hiding under that turban.

"You're right, we are wasting time," Quirinius replied, raising his wand. "Stupefy!"

A red bolt of energy lanced out of Quirrell's wand, heading straight towards Severus, but Severus was quick. With a wave of his own wand, he blocked the red bolt, deflecting it towards one of the walls. In one fluid motion, with reflexes trained by years of paranoia, Severus aimed his wand at Quirrell.

"Sectumsempra!"

A dull green bolt arced out of his wand, narrowly missing Quirinius's hand. It ricocheted off the Mirror, taking a chunk out of the wall behind Severus.

With his wand still trained on the Potions Master, Quirinius drew a second wand and aimed it at the ceiling.

"Reducto!"

A large chunk was taking out of the ceiling above Severus's head. The Potions Master dived aside, narrowly avoiding getting hit with the rubble.

Unfortunately for him, this left Severus lying on the floor, unable to defend himself.

"Stupefy!"

Quirinius didn't need to kill Severus; his Lord might still have use for him. Still, it couldn't hurt to be safe.

"Incarcerous!"

A rope sprang into existence around Severus, binding his hands and feet.

"Now, back to–" Quirinius looked up, and saw someone that hadn't been there a second ago.

"No!" he hissed.

"Salutations, Quirrell," Peta-Lorrum said, grinning.

"You!" hissed Quirinius. "How are you here?!"

"A little birdie told me that Professor Snape needed help."

Earlier

<Int, return. I need you to watch Professor Snape. Make a note of which potion he drinks, and then follow him into the final room. Alert me if he runs into problems. Eom.>

Upon hearing his mistress's voice, Intelligencer flew back through the winding staircase. Unseen by all except Rose, he surveyed the Potions Master as Rose returned through the rooms.

When their group had just passed through the dimensional prison, she got a message from Intelligencer.

<Professor Snape has just engaged Professor Quirrell in combat. Eom.>

<Thanks, Int!>

"I've got to go!" Rose exclaimed. "Professor Snape's in trouble!"

"Peta-Lorrum, don't you dare!"

Minerva's words fell on the ears of four of the students, as the fifth student had just vanished from sight. She found herself shouting instead at rose petals.

Rose's picnic basket appeared in her hand, and Intelligencer flew inside of it. She glanced over at the Mirror of Erised and saw something she wasn't expecting. There were her parents, as they had been before, but Mirror!Rose was holding something in her hand. It was a small, ruby-red stone that she slipped inside their picnic basket. Grinning, Mirror!Rose winked at Rose. Rose grinned back and pulled out the Philosopher's Stone from her basket.

"You've lost, Quirrell," she said, showing him the Stone, then dropping it back in her basket. "No one gets inside my picnic basket once it's closed. To everyone else, it's just a normal wicker basket."

She replaced it back on her charm bracelet, sealing it to the rest of the world.

"Then I'll just have to force you to open it," Quirrell said coolly.

"Good luck," the girl replied. "Better people than you have tried."

They must not have been able to do this! thought Quirinius triumphantly. "Imperio!"

Having total control over the girl, he commanded, "Give me the Stone, girl."

"Make me," Peta-Lorrum replied.

"I said give it to me!"

"No!"

"You insolent little bitch!" hissed the Defence professor.

"Big talk coming from a guy in a stupid turban!"

Something in Quirinius snapped. There had been times when he questioned several of his decisions, but now he just wanted this girl to suffer. He had been hesitant about using the Unforgivable Curses, but now he wanted to hear this pompous, insolent child scream in agony!

"Crucio!"

"You know, I looked up unicorn blood in the Library after I found you that night in the woods, Unicorn Killer."

Nothing was happening. Maybe he hadn't done it properly.

"Crucio!"

"You're living a half-life. The books were incredibly vague as to what that meant, but I initially thought that it meant your lifespan had been cut in half. That didn't make any sense to me; I mean, why do that?"

A requirement of casting the Cruciatus Curse was that the caster had to have actual desire to cause the target pain. Quirinius certainly had the desire, so why wasn't it working?

"Crucio!"

"Then I realized: You aren't living half your lifespan, you're sharing your life with another. That probably means your mind and your body. Then I thought 'With whom would Quirrell want to share his body?'"

"Crucio!"

"What's that supposed to be doing?" asked Rose, tilting her head to one side.

"Causing you unbearable pain."

She glanced down and saw Professor Snape coming to.

"Welcome back, Professor Snape!" Rose exclaimed cheerfully. Seeing the difficulty the Potions Master was having with the ropes, she discharged lightning from her eyes, sundering her friend's bonds.

"Wait, is it like wrack?" Rose asked. "Cos I'm immune to any spell that specifically causes pain."

"What?!" exclaimed Professors Quirrell and Snape.

"Favor of the Martyr! Best Paladin spell ever!" Rose exclaimed. She turned to Professor Snape, who was climbing to his feet. "Of course, I say this cos I don't actually know any other Paladin spells."

"Let me see this girl!" hissed a voice from behind Professor Quirrell.

"My Lord–"

"I will see her!"

Quirinius began to unwrap his turban from around his head. As it fell to the floor, he turned around, revealing a second face on the back of his head.

"He's got a face on the back of his head? That's awesome!" She gasped as she realized what this meant. "Oh! That's how he got past the dimensional prison. Old Voldie spoke the second incantation for him! But how did he know the counter-runes?"

"Peta-Lorrum," Professor Snape said calmly.

"What? Am I not allowed to say 'Voldie' now?"

"Run."

"Why?"

"Now that we've seen him, he can't let us live."

"That's unfortunate," Rose said.

"Yes, it is," hissed Voldemort.

"I know," Rose agreed. "I marked the correct bottle with a big arrow in the last room so Professor McGonagall knows which one to drink when she comes running back here to kill me." She tilted her head to the side again. "Which means you'll be handling two professors in addition to me! And that's assuming that she doesn't bring Professors Vector and Babbling with her."

Professor Quirrell began to advance on the pair, apathetic towards the possibility of additional staff joining them.

Rose simply grinned.

"Mirror, Mirror, what's behind you? Save me from the things I see."

"What?" Professor Snape asked the crimson-haired Gryffindor.

"If not the Mirror, then to whom else is Voldie going to beg for mercy?"

"I never beg for mercy," hissed Voldemort.

"Really?" Rose asked, grinning. "Let's test that theory, shall we?"

Rose spun around and slapped her left hand upon the wall behind her. In an instant, the walls of the entire chamber were changed into a mirror.

"Run!" shouted Rose, closing her eyes so she didn't have to see the reflections all around her.

On its own, the Mirror of Erised showed its viewer their greatest desire. The sole image that gave them comfort during their worst days, and the dream that made them feel alive on their best days. But when a reflection was viewed in the Mirror of Erised, it turned into their worst nightmare. And now, it was reflected a thousand times over, no matter where anyone looked in the room. With two faces, Quirrell couldn't help but be looking at something.

Quirinius stared around the room, trying to look away from the horror that played out before him, but there was no escaping it. He began to scream in terror, but his voice was cut off as he lost control of his body.

Rose grabbed Professor Snape's robes and tugged the Potions Master out of the room. The two of them hadn't traversed ten steps before running headlong into Professor McGonagall.

"Peta-Lorrum, this time, you are–!" she began, then happened to glance behind the young girl. She saw a room full of mirrors and Professor Quirrell, with his turban unwrapped. Just by chance, she saw what was on the back of his head.

"Correct," Minerva finished, shoving the girl behind her, making sure that she and Severus stayed between Quirrell/Voldemort and Peta-Lorrum. "Your friends are back in the potions room. Run!"

"I'm not leaving you behind, Professor," Rose replied, stepping to the side. "All I need is a clear line of effect to him!"

Voldemort began to walk slowly out of the room, then raised his host's primary wand. A loud screeching sound was emitted from it.

Rose, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Snape all clapped their hands over their ears.

"Gromph ada!" Rose swore as Voldemort drew closer, raising his secondary wand.

She was unable to concentrate enough to cast spells, similarly to when the castle had screamed at her. It wasn't as bad, but she still couldn't do anything about the crazy professor. Not even Professors McGonagall or Snape could concentrate with the ear-piercing sound. Where were the PCs?

"Where the Nine Hells are the PCs?" Rose shouted. "Summon PCs!"

"Expelliarmus!"

Quirrell's wand flew out of his hand, and the screeching sound stopped.

Rose realized that her blindsight had been tripped by someone behind her, but didn't take the second to find out who it was. She raised her hand towards Quirrell and activated undermaster.

In an instant, the Defence Professor's body began to solidify. His very flesh turned to solid stone, immobilizing the man before them.

Minerva stared in near slack-jawed amazement as her fellow professor was turned to stone, then looked down at the student who had committed the act.

Rose glanced behind her and saw Harry standing there, his wand still aimed at Quirrell.

"Well done, Harry!" Rose exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear. She ran over and threw her arms around her friend. "I need to cast that spell more often! How'd you cast a spell?"

"I don't know, the sound wasn't so bad from here, I guess."

"What happened?"

Rose released her friend as the rest of her friends joined them, lead by Hermione, with Professors Vector and Babbling just behind them.

"Victory hugs, all around!" Rose shouted, rushing over to hug Hermione, Sally-Anne, and even Ronald.

Harry was still uncertain as to what he should be doing. He wasn't even sure what was going on!

"Like Ms. Granger said," Minerva said, looking from the statue that was once a professor to the crimson-haired girl. "Ms. Peta-Lorrum, what just happened?"

"I used flesh to stone on him," Rose replied. "He'll stay like that indefinitely, or until I cast stone to flesh on him. In your terms, I transfigured his flesh into stone."

"What about the Mirror of Erised?" Severus asked.

"Polymorph any object to turn the entire room into one big mirror," Rose answered.

"Wait, the Mirror of Erised is in there?" Harry asked. "Doesn't that turn a reflection into your worst nightmare?"

"Well done, Harry," Rose replied. She turned to Professor McGonagall. "Can I award him house points?"

"No."

"Aw!"

"Let's go, everyone," Professor Vector said. "We've got a long walk back."

"No, we haven't," Rose said. She mentally tallied the charges that she had spent from Serendipity. One to teleport herself into the potion room, and one to polymorph the mirror room. That meant she had two left.

"I wish Professors Quirrell, McGonagall, Snape, Vector, and Babbling, along with Hermione, Harry, Sally-Anne, Ronald, And I were in the Hospital Wing," Rose said in Dwarven.

The next thing everyone knew, they appeared in the Hospital Wing, where a startled Madame Pomfrey greeted them.

"What in the name of Merlin's Beard?!" she gasped.

<Professor Dumbledore, we're in the Hospital Wing,> Rose pathed to the Headmaster, expending her fourth charge from Serendipity.

Within a few seconds, Professor Dumbledore appeared with a burst of fire, a phoenix perched on his arm.

Albus looked from Minerva, who was trying hard to look authoritative despite obviously (to him) having no clue what was happening anymore; to Severus, who was eyeing everyone suspciously; to the group of first-year Gryffindor students who all just looked confused; to the statue of his Defence Professor who had actually managed to make it to the end of the term this year; and finally to Rose Peta-Lorrum, who just beamed back at him and stared at Fawkes in wonder.

"Kethé!" she exclaimed. "You are back!"

"Indeed, and I think I may need to stop leaving the castle," Albus said, still surveying the scene before him. "It appears that things simply go wrong when I do. Would someone please bring me up to date on the events of tonight?"

"Me!" Rose responded immediately, her hand flying up into the air. "Me! Pick me!" She began to jump up and down, still waving her hand in the air. "Me! Me! Pick me! Pick me!"

Albus watched with mild amusement as the girl continued this and considered for a moment allowing her to continue, simply to see how long she could keep it up. However, there were more important matters at hand than allowing the students to behave ridiculously for his own amusement.

"Yes, Ms. Peta-Lorrum?"

Rose took a deep breath.

"Harry was worried that Professor Quirrell was going to use the Philosopher's Stone to res Voldemort, so we went to see you to put his mind at ease, but it was just made worse when we found that you weren't there, so Harry convinced Ron to sneak out with him to go try to stop Quirrell on their own, so I rounded up Hermione and Sally-Anne to go save them before they got hurt, and we all met up in the finely crafted prison, but since Hermione's a genius and Sally-Anne had read the paper on dimensional prisons, we were able to escape, and since Ron's a genius at chess, we were able to beat the white team and proceed."

Rose took another breath.

"Before I left, I asked Dripty to get Atrien to help him round up some of the professors in case we needed backup, which he did, and they caught up with us when we reached Professor Snape's potion room, and Professor McGonagall nearly expelled me there, but sent Professor Snape to go check on the Philosopher's Stone, but he found Professor Quirrell, who had been drinking the blood of sweet, innocent unicorns, and so was living a half-life which resulted with Voldemort being on the back of his head. I had already sent Intelligencer ahead, so he alerted me when Professor Snape was in trouble, and also watched Professor Snape drink the potion to progress through the fire, so I marked it on my way past so Professor McGonagall would know which one to drink when she came to kill or expel me."

Albus wasn't sure what was more entertaining: the girl bouncing up and down, pointing at everyone as she mentioned them, or her insistence on saying all of this while taking as few breaths as possible.

"Then I went into the mirror room, and the Mirror of Erised gave me the Philosopher's Stone, and Professor Quirrell got really mad, and tried to use the crucial curse on me, but favor of the martyr makes me immune to pain effects, and then he tried to kill Professor Snape and I, but I turned the entire room into a mirror, so he saw his worst nightmare no matter where he looked, because you said that a 'reflection reflects what we see', so the Mirror of Erised turns a reflection into your worst nightmare, and after we ran, we ran into Professor McGonagall, but then Voldemort emitted a high pitched shrieking sound from his wand, which made it hard for me to concentrate, but then I summoned Harry, and he disarmed Quirrell, and I turned him to stone and brought everyone here."

By the time the pale girl was finished, everyone was staring at her. After everything that had happened, including a homicidal professor attempting to kill her, she was excited. The girl was literally bouncing up and down with excitement.

"I'm impressed by how easily you five were able to make it through the challenges set forth by my staff," Albus said when the hyperactive first-year finished her speech.

"Well, we have got the best Seeker, arithmancer, and strategist ever, not to mention the nicest person ever," Rose said. "Like my friend Bowie says: 'Morale and inspiration are the most important ingredients for success!'"

So that's the fourth one's name, Albus thought. Bowie, Carolina, Shadow, and… what was her brother's name again? Scholar? No, Sk'lar! That was his name! The Exalted, I think she's called them. I look forward to meeting them some day.

"It would seem that I need to be awarding house points," Professor Dumbledore replied, "but first, there is the matter of my petrified Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. If you would all step away from him, and Minerva, Severus, Septima, and Bathsheda, please draw your wands."

The collective group did as they were told.

"Rose, if you would please restore him to normal," the Headmaster said.

Albus knew what was going to happen next, and while he didn't want to do it, there was no sense in delaying the inevitable.

Rose looked at the Headmaster, then nodded. With a wave of her hand, Quirinius Quirrell was restored to flesh and blood. He looked around the room at the four wands trained upon him, his own secondary wand still drawn.

"Quirinius, it's over," Albus said gently. "If you would please come with us, we–"

Before he could finish, Quirrell's eyes rolled up into the back of his head, and a wisp of smoke arose out of his body. The Defence professor collapsed to the ground as the wisp began to float around the room, assessing the occupants.

Except for Professor Dumbledore, the four adults kept their wands on the wisp. Rose pulled her wand and followed the wisp's movements through the Hospital Wing.

Instead of attacking them, the wraith flew off, phasing through the wall of the Hospital Wing.

Albus watched the spirit fly off, then turned to his assorted comrades.

"As I suspected," he said. "He had no more use for poor Quirinius, so he released him. Not having his other half, the Defence professor's life was ended."

"So he's…" Hermione said, shaking.

"I'm afraid so," Professor Dumbledore said gloomily.

Sally-Anne walked over and put her arm around her friend. "It's alright," she whispered.

Truth be told, Sally-Anne was awfully uncomfortable about it as well, but she was more worried about her friends' well-being than her own at the moment.

"Children, if you would please follow me," Professor Dumbledore said. He subtly nodded to the other staff members, who began cleanup as soon as the children were out of sight.